Did Absa copy their new logo from OpenServe?

Response to Absa’s new branding has been mixed.

While the new logo is only part of an extensive rebranding campaign, it is the part of the new campaign that has had people talking.

Social media users have pointed out the similarity between the new logo and that of another prominent South African company, OpenServe, a division of Telkom that provides fibre to homes.

The bank also has a new slogan, “Africanicity”, and says they are also changing the automated voice at the end of their helpline.

“The new Absa approaches everything with #Africanacity. A word we created to describe the distinctly African ability to always find ways to get things done,” the bank tweeted from its account, @AbsaSouthAfrica.

Suspicions that the bank may have been a bit too influenced by the internet company aside, others have different complaints.

Writer Tom Eaton feels the two lines on either side of the word ‘absa’ look like the small letter ‘l’, causing him to conclude that the bank has been renamed ‘labsal’, which he says sounds like “both an Old Testament demon and a soothing cream for labial itchiness”.